The NBA’s opening night will give us an early look at a few contenders.
The 2021-22 NBA season may still be more than a month away from opening, but there is still plenty to talk about even after the conclusion of the 2021 NBA Draft and free agency frenzy. On Tuesday afternoon, the NBA released the schedule to a few key dates that included the Christmas Day slate.
In addition to the Christmas Day slate, the league also announced the two games that will open the season on October 19, 2021. It was a little tease of what we could expect later this week when the entire schedule is set to be released.
The two games that will officially open the regular season are Brooklyn Nets vs. Milwaukee Bucks followed by the Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers.
More from Sir Charles In Charge
- Dillon Brooks proved his value to Houston Rockets in the 2023 FIBA World Cup
- NBA Trade Rumors: 1 Player from each team most likely to be traded in-season
- Golden State Warriors: Buy or sell Chris Paul being a day 1 starter
- Does Christian Wood make the Los Angeles Lakers a legit contender?
- NBA Power Rankings: Tiering all 30 projected starting point guards for 2023-24
And there might not be any better potential matchups. In the first matchup of the night, we will get a sneak peek at the defending champions against arguably the team that most believe should win the NBA championship this season.
Will the Nets be healthy this time around? We will finally see what a Bucks-Nets (at full strength) looks like, something we simply didn’t get to see in the postseason, unfortunately.
At the same rate, out in the Western Conference, we’ll get a look at arguably two of the favorites that most expect to play a big factor in who comes out on top – the Lakers and Warriors.
After retooling during the offseason, we’ll get our first official look at the Lakers with Russell Westbrook against a Warriors team that is looking to jump back into contention in the West.
The hope is that Golden State will be back at full strength at the start of the season but there’s no guarantee. It doesn’t make much sense for the Warriors to rush Klay Thompson back if he isn’t going to be ready. There’s no rush for the Warriors, especially if they expect to be players in the postseason.
On the NBA’s opening night, we’re going to get an early look at what we could possibly expect from a few of the contenders this season. October 19 can’t seem to come soon enough.